About Me

Saturday, May 26, 2012

There is a priest friend of mine—one of my classmates
actually—who does a lot of work with the Legion of Mary calling
from door to door speaking to people about faith. He was a
Quantity Surveyor before he became a priest and he is one of the most
amazing organizers I’ve ever met. He often said to me that
the hardest places he found to work in were usually the wealthier
areas. When people felt they had all they needed they were
generally not as open to hearing about God. The poorer areas
were usually much more open to what he had to say. It doesn’t
surprise me.

From all the various crises that are happening at the
moment one of the good things that is coming from them is that they
are helping people to ask a lot of questions and to search for God in
a new way. Economic crisis helps us to realise that we are much
more vulnerable than we might have thought. Religious crisis
and serious scandals—such as we are seeing at the moment—help us
to remember that while religion can be a great help, it is absolutely
deadly if it is misused. Any religion is simply a way to help
us live out what we believe in, but unless it is completely focused
on God and unless God is at the centre, it can become an end in
itself and a very dangerous one at that.

There is one crucial thing that is needed for faith to
be alive and healthy and that is the gift of God’s Spirit.
For me the best way of explaining it is to compare the Spirit to
electricity. In any building you can have all kinds of useful
and sophisticated equipment, such as computers, microphones,
lights, projectors, MRI and CAT scanners, and so much more.
However, none of these things would be of any use to us if we didn’t
have electricity. They would just sit there like stone.
The power that goes into them is what transforms them into something
wonderful. In a sense the Holy Spirit is the electricity that
makes us alive. Without God’s Spirit we are dead, the
Scriptures are just words in a book; the mass is just an empty
ritual; marriage is just a legal way of being together. But
with the Holy Spirit our faith suddenly lights up, the
Scriptures become the living word of God and the mass becomes the living
presence of Jesus among us in the Eucharist. With the Holy Spirit
marriage includes the presence of God, present to support, strengthen
and encourage.

The truth is that we are nothing without the gift of
God’s Spirit. We would not be able to believe, or pray nor
would we even have the desire to know God. I could stand at the
altar and pray all day long, but nothing would happen if the Holy
Spirit didn’t transform the bread and wine into the Body and Blood
of Jesus; the same with confession. It is the Spirit who
forgives people. The priest is just an instrument; an important
instrument, but only an instrument.

What we see happening in the Church at the moment and
over the last 20 years or so is also the work of the Holy Spirit,
purifying and renewing his people. And that is happening
because the Lord loves us and won’t allow his people to be overcome
with disease. All the poison is being taken away and this is
painful but absolutely essential. We will all be much better
off because of this work which God is bringing about. God is
forcing us to rely much more on the power of his Word and of his
Spirit, something which we should have been doing all along.
Perhaps one of the most important things to remember is that God’s
work is always beautiful and God will make things beautiful again,
because God is the master craftsman.

The Lord doesn’t wait until we are ready either.
God acts when the time is right. He doesn’t just wait for the
hierarchy of his Church to decide what to do, He sends his Spirit who
inspires people and moves people to act. That’s not to say
that God doesn’t care about his bishops and priests, but God knows how best to act; and so the Lord sends his Spirit
to inspire and move people to step out in faith and live the Gospel,
and they in turn move others, until soon God's people are alive again with
faith.

God knows very well what we are like and that despite
our best efforts we continually need to be helped back on the right
track, no matter what we are doing. And this is why Jesus told
us before he ascended into heaven, that the Father would send us this
‘Helper’, who would be with us forever, and who would teach us
everything. He knew well that we would need help and so God
sent us the best help that we could have, his own Spirit, to guide us
and teach us. And the Lord does teach us constantly through the
example of people He inspires, through the Word of God, through
prayer when we are open to him and in many other ways we will never
even be aware of. But the Spirit is very gentle and that is why
we don’t notice him sometimes.

The gift of God’s own Spirit is really the greatest
thing God can give us after life itself, because when we have the
Holy Spirit we have everything.

Saturday, May 19, 2012

In my work as a priest people often tell me about spiritual
experiences they have had: sometimes they are experiences of the Lord
in some way, sometimes of someone who has died, asking for prayers or
something like that. Quite a large number of people do seem to
have spiritual experiences. However, often after a time people
begin to wonder did they really have these experiences, or was it all
in their imagination. Of course it is really impossible to
know, and in one way it is even not important. Usually the
experience will have helped them, and that is really the only thing
that matters.

In the first reading today from the Acts of the Apostles—or the
‘adventures’ of the Apostles, as you might call them—Luke tells
us how after Jesus rose from the dead he continued to appear
to the Apostles. Not just once, but many times. Why?
Probably to convince them that they had not imagined it. One
thing that he did on at least two occasions was to eat something with
them. The first time when he appeared to them in the room, they
were all standing there speechless, and he said ‘do you have
anything here to eat?’ So they gave him a piece of fish and
he ate it in front of them. Then they knew it was not just a
vision, but a real person, the same real person they had known
before. It was not even food that he had brought with him,
which could also have been part of a vision, but it was something
they gave him and then they watched him chew it and swallow it.
This was a beautiful and very human thing to do; something that we
could completely relate to.

Luke also says that he not only appeared to them, but he also
continued to tell them about ‘the Kingdom.’ What is ‘the
Kingdom’ and what was he telling them about? I have no
doubt that he was telling them about the reality of heaven: life with
God which we have been created for; that it is real and that we could
also lose it if we are foolish. There we will be reunited with the
people we love and we will experience happiness there in a way that
we can not even begin to imagine now. He was probably also
explaining to them what the purpose of his life was on earth, why he
had to suffer and die the way he did, what all this meant for the
human race; God’s plan for his people. Also he probably told
them that he had a lot of work for them to do and that they must
remember that their life here on earth was a time of service and not
to worry if things were not easy, because when their work here was
done he would bring them home to be with him again.

Why was it they were suddenly able to go out and start preaching to
everyone about a man that most people had never heard of before?
And not only preach about him for a while, but for the rest of their
lives and with passion. I think all of them ended up being
martyred, but they didn’t care, because they knew that the only
thing that was important was to be faithful to the Lord Jesus as best
they could.

Why am I telling you all this? because the same thing exactly applies
to us. The Apostles were real people and these are real experiences
that we are reading about. Our life on earth is just as short as
theirs was and it is also a time of service, just as theirs was. For
many people it will be lived out in service by looking after their
families. For many others and also for priests and religious it will
be in a slightly different way. But that is why we are here, to learn
to love, to serve, to freely choose for or against God. However, I
think it is also worth remembering that we are living in a time when
people are very cynical about religion, and they point to the
scandals of the Church as being ‘proof’ of just how hypocritical
the whole thing is. We must not let that put us off. It has always
been difficult to believe and probably always will be, but we ask the
Lord himself to help us to persevere and not become negative or
cynical. And when our time here is complete God will come and bring
us home.

I have no doubt that this is probably what Jesus was telling the
Apostles about during those forty days. He wanted them to have no
doubt about why they were here, so that we also could have a good
understanding of our purpose here, through their teaching.

You might say, ‘But it is too difficult, or not realistic, or too
hard to believe.’ God has given us every possible help that
we could ask for. If it seems too difficult it is only because
we are not using the help that He has given us. What help?
Above all, the Eucharist, where Jesus feeds us with himself and we
are united to him in the most intimate way possible; also through the
word of God which guides and teaches us; then there is confession
which heals, forgives and encourages us, and there are so many other
ways too. It is all there waiting for us. The clearer a
picture we have in our own head as to what our life is about, the
easier it is to keep going. That is also why we needn’t be
afraid of anything in this world. If we offer ourselves to God,
then why should we be afraid? All things are in his hands.

Saturday, May 12, 2012

A few months ago my
brother Cathal who was studying in Canada told me that he had gone to
a particular jazz concert where a world famous trumpeter called
Wynton Marsalis was playing. My brother studied music and is a
big jazz fan. After the concert he went to a local jazz bar
only to find Wynton Marsalis had also gone there and played for the
rest of the night. At the end of the session Cathal went up to
say hello to this guy. He couldn’t believe that he even had
the chance meet Winton. When he went up Wynton was talking to
another man. After a minute he realised that my brother was
waiting to meet him and he just turned around and put his arm around
him and said, ‘Hey, how are you?’ My brother Cathal said he
felt so chuffed that this famous musician would be so kind as to
recognise him and greet him in this way.

I remember also hearing
a story of John Paul II visiting some place in Poland. And
whatever building he had been brought to all the staff were lined up
to meet him. When he came into the room he recognised one woman
he knew from years before and straight away he said, ‘Mary, what
are you doing here?’ and he gave her a big hug. She was
so overcome to be singled out by the Pope in this way that she just
burst into tears. For whatever reason we love to feel that we
are remembered, or recognised; that we’re not just nobody.

In the Gospel today
there is a simple phrase which you could easily miss. Jesus
says, “I call you friends,” because he says he has taught us
everything about himself and about the Father. Can you imagine
if the Lord appeared in the sky and we were all watching and he
singled you out and said, “Oh this is a friend of mine.”
How bizarre, and yet what a wonderful privilege. The Lord tells
us that we are not his servants, but his friends and even children.
We say that often, but I think we forget what it means. Our
friends are the ones who look out for us, do favours for us and stick
with us. Real friends won’t let us off the hook either, even
if we are out of line. They are the ones who will challenge us,
because they love us. Jesus is telling us the same thing.
He treats us as friends, which is a sign of his enormous respect for
us. A servant can be let go at any time if they are not up to
standard, but you don’t let go of a friend, even if they are not up
to standard. Jesus is telling us that this is the regard he has
for us. I find that very comforting.

My best friends are the
ones who have stood by me through thick and thin. And as you
know well, you will know who your true friends are when you make a
mess of things, or when times are hard. They are the ones who
will stand by you. That is what the Lord Jesus is saying to
us. He is with us and He will stand by us regardless.

There is another line
in the first reading today that I also want to mention, where Peter
says: “The truth I have come to realise is that God has no
favourites; but that anyone of any nationality who fears God and does
what is right, is acceptable to him” (Acts 10:35). And then
as though to prove the point, just after he said this, the Spirit of
God came down on all who were present and empowered them and these
people weren’t even baptised. They were pagans. God was
showing them something wonderful: All people who try and do the
right thing, are acceptable to God.

I know there are a lot
of people here who are worrying about their children or loved ones,
perhaps because they don’t seem to be practicing, or living their
faith in the way that we think they should. Well
remember this line: ‘The truth I have come to realise is that
anyone of any nationality who fears God and does what is right is
acceptable to God.’ Most people I know, whether they practice
or not, do fear God and try to do what is right. I think this
should give us and the people we love great hope.

Saturday, May 5, 2012

One of the most successful movements ever
started which has been able to help people get their lives back together is the
group known as Alcoholics Anonymous or AA. By now there are also many
other ‘twelve step’ groups, as they are called, such as Narcotics Anonymous,
Workaholics Anonymous, Overeaters Anonymous, and others. The interesting
thing is that the twelve step program on which they are based, is basically a summary
of the Christian life. The twelve steps involve admitting that you are
powerless over your problem, whatever it might be; that your life is
unmanageable, that only God (as you understand God) can help you and so you
must turn to him; also that you need to atone for the hurt and damage that you
may have caused others. But the main reason why these groups have helped
so many people is because they are based on the idea that we need the support
of like minded people if we are to be able to live any kind of way of life.

Our coming to mass on a Sunday has a very similar thinking behind
it. We come together primarily to worship the Lord of course, but also
because we need the support of like minded people who also believe that Jesus
is the Christ, the Holy One of God. And this was exactly why the early
Christians began to come together in each others houses, so that they could
share their faith together, listen to the Word of God, receive the Lord Jesus
together in the Eucharist and be encouraged by each others presence and
witness.

Today we do the same thing but in a more organised way. But the
reason we still come together is not just because it’s Sunday and we have to go
to mass, but because we need the support of others who believe as we do.
We need to listen to God’s word for guidance and inspiration, so that we can
learn how God wants us to live. And of course most importantly to receive
Jesus in the Eucharist. We are nourished by Jesus himself when we receive him
in Holy Communion and are intimately united with him in the most extraordinary
way. The Lord knows much better than we
do how much we need this kind of strength and support and that is why he has
set it up for us this way. All of this is for our benefit, because we
need this kind of support.

In the second reading St. John says that what the Lord asks of us is
this: to believe in the name of Jesus Christ, that He is the Son of God, and to
love one another. If we can do that much we are doing a lot.

More and more in our society it becomes obvious that we don’t all
believe in the same thing and that is alright, there is room for
everyone. But if we are to blossom, we need the support of each other and
to know that we are not on our own. We also need to look out for each
other, because that is the practical way of living out our faith. It is
not easy to live as a Christian, but then it never has been. In the
Gospel Jesus says, ‘Cut off from me you can do nothing.’ If we are
serious about following this way of life, then we must recognise what it is we
need. Just as with someone suffering from an alcohol or drug addiction,
if they want to get well, they need to work the twelve step program. Well
it is the same for us. If we hope to survive as Christians, we need to
stay close to Jesus, to listen to his word, to receive him in the Eucharist and
to love one another. Jesus is our source of life in every sense. If we wish to
remain alive as Christians, we must be rooted in him. No one else will give us
life as He does.

‘I am the vine, you are the branches... Cut off
from me you can do nothing.’